So you think that fake news is a 21st-century thing? Not hardly. People have been lying or–more to the present point–getting things wrong for centuries. An article on Five Thirty-Eight shares how an astronomer’s mistake through a telescope, seeing something he didn’t really see, was compounded by a translation choice to lead extremely reputable scientists in the U.S. to assert as settled science that there was an advanced civilization on Mars.
First you report seeing things that your eye has fooled you into seeing. Second, you describe those things as “channels.” Third, American translators take the Italian word for “channel” and render it “canals.” And then Q.E.D. where there are canals, there must be canal-builders and, presumably gondoliers.
So even if it is a tad ridiculous to take seriously the idea of a Martian civilization devoted entirely to repeated investment in hydrological capital projects, it’s the kind of ridiculous that can permanently change the way Western civilization tells stories about the planetary frontier. And it’s a crucial reminder that science isn’t static, and what’s accepted fact today isn’t guaranteed to tell the whole story tomorrow.
How important is it for us to get our information and our language right? If the best and the brightest can make mistakes that endure for decades, don’t we need to work to our utmost to get things in order?
Gondolas of Mars?
So you think that fake news is a 21st-century thing? Not hardly. People have been lying or–more to the present point–getting things wrong for centuries. An article on Five Thirty-Eight shares how an astronomer’s mistake through a telescope, seeing something he didn’t really see, was compounded by a translation choice to lead extremely reputable scientists in the U.S. to assert as settled science that there was an advanced civilization on Mars.
First you report seeing things that your eye has fooled you into seeing. Second, you describe those things as “channels.” Third, American translators take the Italian word for “channel” and render it “canals.” And then Q.E.D. where there are canals, there must be canal-builders and, presumably gondoliers.
How important is it for us to get our information and our language right? If the best and the brightest can make mistakes that endure for decades, don’t we need to work to our utmost to get things in order?
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